Convibo has extended its one-hour delivery service to Tesco, following the launch of similar services by Amazon and Sainsbury’s last year.
Having begun deliveries for Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and Whole Foods in London last year, the grocery delivery company has now joined forces with Tesco. It offers same-day delivery in as little as one hour from all four retailers, with personal shoppers selecting customers groceries by hand in store.
If a product is out of stock, the personal shopper calls the customer to ask if they want an alternative product.
Convibo currently delivers to 16 postcodes across the city, with a flat delivery charge of £4.99 across the four chains it works with. Deliveries are available Monday to Saturday from 9am to 10pm, mainly in West and South West London – from Chelsea and Fulham up to Paddington and Shepherds Bush.
In the coming months the firm plans to triple its coverage and add more postcodes. It is also planning to expand to cities outside of London, but this will not happen in Q1 according to co-founder and CEO Takis Malavetas.
The tie-up with Tesco is a statement of intent from the burgeoning delivery service and Malavetas hopes it will help supermarkets to compete with Amazon, which shook up the grocery e-commerce market with the launch of one-hour groceries through Amazon Prime Now customers.
“Inprinciple,ConvibohelpssupermarketstocompetewithAmazon,” he said. “We thinkthatthereisnoreasonfortheretailerstoheavilyinvestine-commercelogisticssinceit'snottheircorecompetency.
“Allofthemaredoinga greatjobinoffering agreatvarietyofproductsandintheendthisiswhattheir customers are after. Having a third party company handling the online delivery is much more cost-effective for the supermarkets.”
Sainsbury’s already has a third-party one-hour delivery service of its own courtesy of its Chop Chop app, launched in September 2016. Bicycle deliveries out of the retailer’s Pimlico store are currently being trialled for central London postcodes, with plans to add 35,699 more postcodes to its app.
But Malavetas believes Convibo’s service has the edge over its competitors “with less restrictions compared to both Amazon Prime Now and Chop Chop”.
“There is no need to have a minimum or a maximum basket; you don’t need to be part of any subscriptionpackage; and you get the bestvariety of stores - even onesthat don’t offer delivery such as M&S,” he said.
At most stores that Convibo delivers from customers can choose from more than 90 per cent of the product range.
